Barnaby Joyce’s wife Vikki Campion reveals she was suicidal after their relationship scandal – and the Malcolm Turnbull speech that made her want to ‘end it all’
Vikki Campion, the wife of former Australian deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce, has revealed she was suicidal and suffered severe postpartum depression during the 2018 scandal surrounding their relationship. Speaking on the ABC's Australian Story, she said she felt "completely and utterly broken" amid intense media scrutiny, with her lowest point triggered by a press conference given by then Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull criticising Joyce, who she said was unaware of her side of the story.
The 2018 affair, coupled with a sexual harassment allegation against Joyce that was later cleared by an eight-month Nationals investigation, forced his resignation as Nationals leader and deputy prime minister. Campion said she was isolated and battling new motherhood at the time, prompting the couple to move to the secluded New England town of Woolbrook, where they still live with their two sons. Joyce returned as Nationals leader in 2021 before losing the role again after the Coalition's 2022 election defeat, with Campion saying he was subsequently "frozen out" of the party, while Joyce admitted his own anger had contributed to the tensions.
- Vikki Campion says she was suicidal during 2018 Barnaby Joyce affair scandal
- She blamed severe postpartum depression and intense media scrutiny
- Couple moved to rural Woolbrook; Joyce later lost Nationals leadership again in 2022
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Vikki Campion is the wife of Barnaby Joyce, a senior Australian politician who served as deputy prime minister and leader of the National Party. In 2018, it emerged that Joyce, then still married to his first wife, had been in a relationship with Campion, a former media adviser in his office, who was pregnant with their child. The affair became a major political scandal, drawing heavy press coverage and criticism from then Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, and ultimately led Joyce to resign as deputy prime minister and Nationals leader.
Joyce later faced a separate sexual harassment allegation, which a Nationals party investigation cleared him of after eight months. Despite the scandal, he returned to lead the Nationals again in 2021, only to lose the position once more following the Coalition's defeat at the 2022 federal election.
Campion has since spoken publicly about the toll the 2018 scandal took on her mental health, including struggles with postpartum depression after the birth of their first son. The couple, who have two sons together, moved away from Canberra to a rural town in New South Wales, where they have largely remained out of the public eye since.